1. | Title: | Samuel W. Sellers, Jennie P. Sellers, and Jennie Haines Diaries (1834-1924) | |
Dates: | 1834 - 1924 | ||
Extent: | 14 volumes | ||
Locations: | Bowmansville | Chester | Kennett Township | Marlborough | Philadelphia | Pughtown | Romansville | Sandy River | West Chester, Pennsylvania | Wilmington | ||
Abstract: | David Shinn Collection of Mary Christiana Sellers contains at least 14 diaries spanning nearly a century (1834-1923) and three generations of the Sellers family: Samuel W. Sellers, Jennie P. Sellers and Jennie Haines. Samuel Sellers, who served as justice of the peace in Chester County, furnishes the earliest and longest range of diaries (1834-1881). He maintained journals (most of which are unbound) between 3/1/1834-6/21/1851, 6/15/1851-8/17/1855 (as well as a separate volume for 8/18-11/14/1855), January 1857-October 1858, 11/12/1855-1/31/1875, and 1/3/1878-3/2/1881. Overall, his entries are short, though they record weather, births, deaths, local affairs, some transactions and accounts, and some national news. For example, he commemorates the death of President Polk (6/22/1849) and notes, with some disapproval, an anti-slavery meeting in West Chester staged shortly after the passage of the Compromise of 1850, excerpted in Selected Quotations (10/23/1850). His daughter, Jennie Sellers furnishes two of the most animated journals, particularly for scholars interested in Confederate sympathy in the U.S. North. In her diary from 1860, Jennie, then 16 years old, expresses some disgust with the recently elected president, Abraham Lincoln (March 1860). In her second diary, which traverses the end of the war (1/1/1864-3/20/1866), she records the surrender of General Lee (4/10/1865) assassination of Lincoln (4/15/1865), and funerial procession in Philadelphia (4/16/1865). Perhaps most remarkably, she includes an extended screed against Abraham Lincoln and in defense of John Wilkes Booth, which she may have copied from a local newspaper. That passage is excerpted at length in Selected Quotations. Finally, Jennie Seller's daughter, Jennie Haines furnishes six daybooks from 1887, 1898, 1901, 1904, 1908, and 1923. Maintained in Centennial, Standard, and Daily Reminder diaries, these bound volumes detail the weather, household chores (such as churning butter), visits to the market (often with grocery prices), and miscellaneous accounts. Some of the volumes include various ephemera in the back pockets. Although Jennie Haines rarely discusses national news, she does include at least one oblique reference to the Spanish-American War when she discusses the loss of the Battleship Maine (2/19/1898). | ||
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David Shinn Collection of Mary Christiana Sellers contains at least 14 diaries spanning nearly a century (1834-1923) and three generations of the Sellers family: Samuel W. Sellers, Jennie P. Sellers and Jennie Haines. Samuel Sellers, who served as justice of the peace in Chester County, furnishes the earliest and longest range of diaries (1834-1881). He maintained journals (most of which are unbound) between 3/1/1834-6/21/1851, 6/15/1851-8/17/1855 (as well as a separate volume for 8/18-11/14/1855), January 1857-October 1858, 11/12/1855-1/31/1875, and 1/3/1878-3/2/1881. Overall, his entries are short, though they record weather, births, deaths, local affairs, some transactions and accounts, and some national news. For example, he commemorates the death of President Polk (6/22/1849) and notes, with some disapproval, an anti-slavery meeting in West Chester staged shortly after the passage of the Compromise of 1850, excerpted in Selected Quotations (10/23/1850). His daughter, Jennie Sellers furnishes two of the most animated journals, particularly for scholars interested in Confederate sympathy in the U.S. North. In her diary from 1860, Jennie, then 16 years old, expresses some disgust with the recently elected president, Abraham Lincoln (March 1860). In her second diary, which traverses the end of the war (1/1/1864-3/20/1866), she records the surrender of General Lee (4/10/1865) assassination of Lincoln (4/15/1865), and funerial procession in Philadelphia (4/16/1865). Perhaps most remarkably, she includes an extended screed against Abraham Lincoln and in defense of John Wilkes Booth, which she may have copied from a local newspaper. That passage is excerpted at length in Selected Quotations. Finally, Jennie Seller's daughter, Jennie Haines furnishes six daybooks from 1887, 1898, 1901, 1904, 1908, and 1923. Maintained in Centennial, Standard, and Daily Reminder diaries, these bound volumes detail the weather, household chores (such as churning butter), visits to the market (often with grocery prices), and miscellaneous accounts. Some of the volumes include various ephemera in the back pockets. Although Jennie Haines rarely discusses national news, she does include at least one oblique reference to the Spanish-American War when she discusses the loss of the Battleship Maine (2/19/1898). View Full Description in New Window | |||
Selected Quotations
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Subjects: | Accounts. | American Civil War, 1861-1865 | Diaries. | Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Assassination. | Science. | Spanish-American War, 1898. | Weather. | Women--History. | ||
Collection: | David Shinn Collection of Mary Christiana Sellers (Mss.SMs.Coll.3) | ||
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